Lithium Battery Raw Material Prices Soaring Again

- Nov 11, 2016-

Nickel, manganese, copper prices are relatively large, directly affect the cathode material price and increase battery raw material costs, but from the terminal market, the new energy automotive battery prices relatively stable, rising space is limited, therefore, raw material prices skyrocketing, will be further compressed battery enterprise profit space, for power battery enterprises is a kind of important test. The rapid development in the lithium industry under the background of China lithium battery on the downstream enterprises are not ready to meet skyrocketing prices of raw materials preparation period ". What makes raw material prices skyrocketing?

The main reason for the price increase of raw materials lies in the new energy automotive demand pull, on the lower reaches of the production time difference and resource limited.

1, new energy vehicles on raw material demand, the raw material supply and demand imbalance. In the dividend policy under the impetus of the development of new energy vehicles has become a national strategy, the day before the release of the energy-saving and new energy automotive technology roadmap, a clear direction China seven automobile industry of the future development of technology, and clearly by 2030, new energy vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles will split the world. The promotion of new energy vehicles for the lithium battery demand significantly, compared with 2015, in 2016 the domestic lithium battery demand for raw materials increased significantly, while the supply shortage is relatively large, enough to drive the price of raw materials rose sharply.

2, rising prices of raw materials also due to upstream and downstream production time difference. 2016 supply and demand gap continues to expand, the demand for downstream enterprises to enhance the inventory significantly expanded the gap between supply and demand. Influence of the 2016 scandal and deceived directory of the first half of the battery, battery factory production line to take a conservative attitude, less investment, and raw materials production although concentrated in the second half, but due to the continuous expansion of production line in the second half of the year battery factory, for the upstream raw material demand continues to expand, the time difference caused the rapid rise in prices of raw materials.

3, finite resource, development difficult. Upstream material industry chain, the relative concentration of processing capacity, resource supply is highly monopolized, which makes the demand for the outbreak, the production capacity is still orderly release, able to play the pricing power. At present domestic raw material dependence is too high, by the international environmental impact, on the one hand, foreign resources reserves are limited, on the other hand, the difficulty of development, cost price increases, raw material prices rise accordingly.